Monday 11 May 2009

Chilli chilli jam jam

I don't really like jam, you know the sweet stuff you have for breakfast or maybe at tea time, if you are a little bit peckish. I would have Marmite or tomatoes (ripe and raw of course, with olive oil, basil and sea salt) on toast because I am a savoury girl. But the exception to the rule is chilli jam oozing with crushed garlic and lip-tingling fresh chilli, with a hint of Nam Plaa and red wine vinegar, and of course, huge amounts of brown sugar. This goes brilliantly with your favourite cheese...and I have a few favourites.

I used Scotch Bonnet chillis, mainly because that's all my corner store stocks - they give one hell of a kick, if you'd like something a little more subdued try a few birdseye or whatever you find in your local shop.


Do not follow recipes to an inch of their life! Experiment and learn for yourself. It helps to have approx ingredients and instructions, but I find things take longer than people say they do - my chilli jam takes a few hours before it turns into a delicious jammy, sticky substance and it tastes different every time I make it. You might want to add ginger or red peppers for your next attempt...

Ingredients

  • about 1kg ripe tomatoes (this makes 3/4 smallish jars)
  • 5 Scotch Bonnet chillies or 8/9 red chillies
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 50ml Nam Plaa (Thai fish sauce)
  • 300g brown sugar (you can use castor sugar)
  • 100ml red wine vinegar

Method

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 5-10 min until the skins are ready to peel off - drain, and let them cool a little before you take the skins off.




Peel and roughly chop the garlic and chillis, you can add the seeds depending on how hot you want it. Be careful what you do with your fingers for several hours afterwards, even though I'd washed mine, my fingers were still full of heat all evening!



Puree the tomatoes, chillies, garlic and Nam Plaa in a food processor or blender until you have a smooth puree.

Place the puree, sugar and vinegar in a large saucepan and slowly bring to the boil, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon. When boiling reduce to a slow simmer and leave to cook for about an hour and a half (or longer). Remove any scum that rises to the top and stir regularly. The cooking smells are divine!




Remove from the heat and pour into sterilised jars, when at room temperature store in the fridge until ready to use.


By the way I just use any jars (peanut butter, mayonaise etc) that I have stashed away for these purposes - any shape or size - washed and the labels peeled off (after a good soak in the sink with hot, soapy water). They make great presents, especially with a ribbon.

Tuesday 5 May 2009

Water Babies


A few weeks ago, I noticed, to my surprise some see-through jelly-like blobs on the inside of my Goldfish bowl, and they were filled with lots of minuscule white dots.

Not being completely au fait with Goldfish reproduction I immediately and excitedly assumed Flash and Gordon were not only a mixture of male and female but also expecting... After much Googling, it was agreed that the eggs belonged to the unassuming water snail that hitched a ride on my pond plants without me noticing, a few months back. My disappointment gave over to a feeling of pride for my clever
mollusc. He/she had been very busy with her/himself!




I'd waited as long as possible for the babies to squeeze themselves out of the jelly cocoons but the fish were getting pretty filthy in their fishy slick and it was time for their monthly bath. Luckily I had a smaller Goldfish bowl from when the fish were young, and transported as many tiny snails as I could, grasping any hard little shells I found amongst the floating gubbins. Now I have a bowlful of about 20 baby snails (see first pic for the tiny dark spec).

Uh oh, is that another freshly delivered blob I see clinging to the sides of the bowl...I know you are clever and fertile, but please give it a rest. Anyone know what type of snail I have? Any advice on mollusc motherhood?